| “ | Don't worry, old man... no one's got anything to fear from me ever again... unless you cross me. | „ |
| ~ Weapon H to Wolverine and Weapon X-Force. |
| “ | I did my job. I got your people back safe. You wanna stay over here like an idiot and fight to control a world you got no right to? You're on your own. | „ |
| ~ Weapon H to Dario Agger. |
Clayton "Clay" Cortez, also known as Weapon H and H Alpha, is a character and superhero in Marvel comics.
An former Marine turned mercenary for hire, Cortez was a forced subject of Dr. Aliana Alba's Weapon H division. Given the DNA of Wolverine and the Hulk, he was granted their powers but his brain was kept in tact unlike other previous subjects of Weapon X. After turning on his creator, Cortez attempted to keep to himself to not hurt his family or innocents, but found himself in numerous adventures to stop threats and protect his family. He has also been a member of the Savage Avengers and the War Avengers.
He was created by Greg Pak and Mike Deodato Jr., and first appeared in Totally Awesome Hulk #21 in July of 2017.
Biography[]
Background[]
Not much is known of Clayton Cortez's past, but he was abused by his father while also beaten by his bullies at school. At some point in his adulthood, he joined the United States Marine Corps and later served in the United States Navy SEAL's during his military tenure. He also married a woman named Sonia Sung, whom later had his twin son and daughter.
Becoming Weapon H[]
After his service, he was hired by Eaglestar to eliminate a village of Ujanka for sabotaging a pipeline created by the Roxxon Energy Corporation. During the massacre, Clay had a change of heart and killed his own men, but was captured and sold to Doctor Aliana Alba for her Weapon H sub division program. He was injected with the DNA of the Hulk and Wolverine, giving him gamma superhuman abilities, while his skeleton and claws were coded in admantium. When the Hulk and Weapon X-Force investigated the facility, Alba released Cortez to fight Hulk, but turned on her after killing one of her creations. He then left the facility and went on to erase his records from Eaglestar's database to protect his family until he was brainwashed by Alba, and was tasked by her to kill the populace of Phoenix, Arizona.
In Phoenix, Weapon H battled the Wolverine until he was freed him from Aliana's control and resumed in erasing his records. Wanting to stay off the grid, Cortez hid himself in the forest to stay away from the public, but eventually came across Roxxon attempting to capture Wending. Clayton battled against the Ur-Wendingo with the assistance of Doctor Strange, allowing them to kill the creature with the help of the sorcerer's magic. Weapon H then found himself in Washington when the Brood invaded, forcing Clay to transform and rescue prisoners from the threat. Unbeknownst to Clay, he was being watched by Dario Agger, whom decided to coerce Cortez into working for Roxxon after his battle against a brainwashed Man-Thing.
However, Clay was freed by his ally Ella Sterling and freed Man-Thing and a Brood-hybrid, but decided to collaborate with Agger to stop the Skrullduggers from Weirdworld. After stopping them with the help of Captain America, Weapon H was convinced by him to infiltrate Roxxon despite his hatred for the company. Cortez agreed until his final skirmish on Weirdworld, where Agger battled Morgan le Fay in his minotaur form. While helping others escape, Clay had Agger agree to give him and his family money and new identities to live a new life.
Adventures[]
Later on, he was recruited into Captain Marvel's War Avengers by Captain America's request, and helped them fight against Malekith and the Frost Giants. Following the team's disbandment, Eaglestar and its head Robert Urquhart captured Sonia's mother Janice and targeted the Cortez family. However, Carnage blackmailed Clay to protect those who had bonded with a symbiote in exchange for his mother-in-law's life. Despite this, Dr. Andrew Breen decided to let Janice go in exchange Weapon H allowed Carnage to hunt down Urquhart, as they previously failed to weaken the symbiote.
